Criterion announces first titles on Blu

[leonardodm]

Just got their newsletter in the mail.

"
We’ve got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first.

Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We’ve picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we’ll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions.

Here’s what’s in the pipeline:

The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear

Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we’ll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg’s outback masterpiece at the same time.!"


Link to the discussion at Criterion official forums

For those who need more info on Criterion Collection:

From their website:

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions.

The foundation of the collection is the work of such masters of cinema as Renoir, Godard, Kurosawa, Cocteau, Fellini, Bergman, Tarkovsky, Hitchcock, Fuller, Lean, Kubrick, Lang, Sturges, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Ozu, Sirk, Buñuel, Powell and Pressburger. Each film is presented uncut, in its original aspect ratio, as its maker intended it to be seen. For every disc, we track down the best available film elements in the world, use state-of-the-art telecine equipment and a select few colorists capable of meeting our rigorous standards, and take time during the film-to-video digital transfer to create the most pristine possible image and sound. Whenever possible, we work with directors and cinematographers to assure that the look of our releases does justice to their intentions. Our supplements enable viewers to appreciate Criterion films in context, through audio commentaries by filmmakers and scholars, restored director's cuts, deleted scenes, documentaries, shooting scripts, early shorts, and storyboards. To date, more than 75 filmmakers have made our Director Approved library of laserdiscs and DVDs the most significant archive of contemporary filmmaking available to the home viewer.

Also on wikipedia

[Arkadin]

Hell Yesssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been THE announcement I have been waiting for more than ANY other!

[Jimbo976]

Very great news!!!!

[Arkadin]

I knew I could count on you Jimbo to chime in soon.
you and me seem to always like the same type of stuff.
I've noticed you a bunch lately in threads I've done.
maybe we should start our own sub-forum.

[leonardodm]

They will pair prices with DVDs. Just checked that next weeks Criterions are around US$ 19.99...a bargain !

[Brad1963]

excellent!

[FourToedStatue]

I will contain my excitement until this is verified but if true this is FRIGIN FANTASTIC!

The Third Man in HD!



Ok Ok must contain, must contain

[The Bandit]

Chungking Express. I am in heaven.

Now the question is, will the spine numbers be the same?

Also, I'm a big fan of their Blu-ray logo. The current "C," backwards with a vertical bar to make it a b.

[BostonMA]

Originally Posted by leonardodm

Just got their newsletter in the mail.

"
We’ve got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first.

Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We’ve picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we’ll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions.

Here’s what’s in the pipeline:

The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear

Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we’ll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg’s outback masterpiece at the same time.!"

i havent heard of any of those titles except gimme shelter, which is only a documentay/concert film.

[TomSelleck]

No Rushmore or Life Aquatic??

[ChrisAndy]

Originally Posted by TomSelleck

No Rushmore or Life Aquatic??

Don't worry about it, Criterion is just doing some demo titles right now... I for one am super excited.

[jtp161]

How bout Fear and Loathing??? I have a lot of respect for Criterion but for debut releases, this lot is not that impressive.

[Arkadin]

[quote]

Originally Posted by BostonMA

i havent heard of any of those titles except gimme shelter, which is only a documentay/concert film.

wtf??
is this serious?
I mean they are just common world classics.
I mean there is actually nothing super weird or rare on there.

[Blu-News.com]

Great news, although I'm not a fan of those movies.

[bluskiessmingatme]

YES!!!! Ka-ching!!!! Now, if only I knew if and when they plan to do their new release, The Thief of Bagdad, on Blu. I've got the standard version that's coming from them on May 20th on order, but I would rather have it in Blu.

Anyway, GREAT, GREAT NEWS! Just made my whole day!